Picture to Burn
by Cocacoriola
Summary: One shot of Lily and James, only slightly based off the song by Taylor Swift.


**A/N: Sorry for being really slow on my updating of TWC. I'm seriously brain-dead when it comes to that story. But I will finish it eventually! Even if it takes me five years. Anyways, I was listening to a song today and I came up with a really cute idea for a one-shot. So here it is! :)**

**Picture to Burn**

"Listen, Lily," Charles said. "I think that maybe this is just getting to be too much for me."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked, titling her head so a curtain of fiery red hair fell over her shoulder. Her green eyes were bright as she held back tears, dreading his next sentence.

"I think we should break up."

Lily wished she could have taken back what came out of her mouth next. "Why?" She didn't want to know why, truthfully, knowing that it would only hurt more, but she couldn't help blurting it out. It was a knee-jerk reaction.

"I just need some space," said Charles. "We've got N.E.W.T.s coming up soon, and I need to concentrate on that. Maybe after school is out..." He trailed off, and then look he had on his face told Lily that there wasn't any hope for them, not now nor after school ended.

"Right," she said, unable to look at him. She stared at the ground, counting the cracks in the castle's stone floor, which was mostly covered with thick rugs that never seemed to end.

Charles took a step towards her, then backed away again. "I'll see you around, Lils." Lily listened as he turned and disappeared around the corner. When she was quite sure he was gone, she slumped against the cold brick wall and slid to the ground, silent sobs shaking her body. She drew her knees up against her chest and wrapped her arms around them, hugging them tightly. She rested her face there, her red hair falling down and covering her face.

When she regained control of herself, she pushed herself up onto her feet. Her face was wet with tears and she knew it was blotched with red. Her emerald green eyes would be blood-shot and puffy, and there would be no way to hide the fact that she had been crying. Wiping her face dry on the sleeve of her robes, she set off for her room in the Head's Apartment. It was a separate common room for the Head Boy and Girl and they each got their own bedroom.

The Head's Apartment was located behind a painting of a group of rich wizards in silk robes gathered around a table, playing a muggle card game. The one in the center, puffing on a pipe and clearly the leader, asked, "Password?"

"Jibbery-poker," Lily said, her voice cracking as she spoke. The wizards in the painting exchanged looks, and then painting swung inward to allow Lily inside. She crawled into the rather small, but cozy common room. A large, comfy couch sat in the center of the room, in front of the large, roaring fire, and two tables sat on either side for homework and other work to be done on. Bookshelves lined either side of the fireplace, and nearly hidden between the bookshelves were two doors. One lead to Lily's bedroom, and the other to the Head Boy's bedroom. The Head Boy just so happened to be James Potter, the last person Lily ever wanted to see her like that.

She quickly entered her room and shut the door behind her. She kicked off her shoes and threw her robe on the floor, before collapsing onto her large bed. The warm, fluffy blankets and properly-stuffed pillows did nothing to make her feel better. She didn't care if James heard her, and Lily began to cry again. She pressed her face into one of the pillows to muffle the sound somewhat.

Some time later, she grew too tired to carry on crying. She closed her eyes and willed herself to relax. She didn't want to think about Charles anymore, and with luck, she fell asleep. What was even luckier is that she didn't dream. About Charles or anyone. When she awoke again, Lily knew it was late. The sky was still an inky black color, but she was no longer tired.

Lily rolled off her bed, no longer feeling sad. Instead, she felt an anger rolling through her body. She felt like she would explode with emotion, and suddenly felt helpless. For a moment, she stood in the center of the room, on the verge of angry tears. Lily took a deep, calming breath and then got down on her knees and reached under the bed. Her fingers closed around a small shoe box.

She dragged the shoe box out into the middle of the room with her and lifted the lid off. Inside were several dozen photographs of her and Charles. She picked one up and examined it, remembering how happy they had been together. Then the overwhelming anger returned and Lily dropped the picture back into the box. She replaced the lid, gathered the box up in her arms, and stood up. She opened the door to the common room quietly and peered out. No James.

Lily stepped out into the common room, which was still brightly lit by the fire. She blinked in the bright light, then placed the box on one of the tables. She reached over onto one of the bookshelves and grabbed a candle, which she lit and also took over to the table. She placed it in the center of the table, then sat down and pulled the box over to her. She opened it up and pulled out the photos, one by one, laying them in a neat stack. When they were all on the table, she swept the box and its lid onto the floor.

Lily picked up the top photo. She examined it for a moment. Charles was leaning against the wall outside of the Great Hall, his arms wrapped around Lily, who was laughing and struggling to break free from Charles' grip. He was grinning at the camera, his shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes. Lily dropped the picture onto the table and held her head in her hands for a moment. When she had recovered, she picked the picture up again, careful not to look at it, and held it over the candle.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. But then the center of the picture began to turn brown, then black, and finally caught fire, so the picture slowly burned from the inside out. Lily dropped the picture and watched the corners curl up, and then fall apart into little pieces of ashes. It felt oddly satisfying, and Lily picked up a second photo and watched the process over again. She did the same to a third and a fourth, when a noise startled her out of her reverie.

Lily looked over her shoulder to see James standing in the doorway to his bedroom, jet black hair rumpled, eyes shut as he yawned widely. "What are you doing?" he asked, ruffling his hair with one hand. He took a few steps into the common room, and when the fire light hit him, Lily could see that he was shirtless. She looked away and stared at the table. James walked over to her and stopped beside her, looking down at the small pile of ash on the table, the candle, and the stack of pictures yet to catch fire.

"What are you doing?" he asked again. He picked up one of the pictures of Charles and Lily, then dropped it back on the table looking disgusted. "Come here. I think we need to talk."

"James-" Lily began to protest, but James clapped a hand over her mouth to quiet her. Then he grabbed her hand and led her over to the couch, where he sat down and pulled her down next to him.

"Tell me what happened," he commanded.

"Why do you care?" Lily asked harshly.

"Because, as I've told you about a million times, I love you, Lily. So I care about you," he said simply. "Now what happened?"

Sighing heavily, Lily began to recount how Charles had dumped her, though she wasn't sure why she was openly admitting this to James Potter of all people. She was surprised that she managed to get through it all without shedding a single tear, but there were several moments when she had to stop and struggle to hold it in. When she finished, she looked at James and noticed that his face was creased with worry. There was a hint of anger in his hazel eyes, but there was mostly pity and sorrow behind the lenses of his glasses.

"Listen, Lily," James said. "That guy is a jerk. He doesn't deserve you, and you shouldn't have to deal with all this pain. You're a heart-breaker, Lils, but no one should break _your_ heart."

"What?" Lily felt slightly offended.

"Well it's just that you're such a sweet girl, and you'd never hurt anyone and I just..."

"No," Lily said, cutting him off. "You called me a heart-breaker. I've never broken anyone's heart."

James gave a sad smile. "You break my heart every day, Lily Evans."

Lily gaped at him. She couldn't think of anything else to do, her brain acted as though it had simply shut down. When she got it working again, she clamped her mouth shut and studied James. There was no sign of joking or teasing in his face. Lily knew he'd had a crush on her for a while... But it couldn't be this serious, could it? Giving her head a tiny shake, she refused to believe it was possible. And anyways, why would the famous, popular, good-looking James Potter pick her, boring, studious Lily Evans over every other girl at Hogwarts? There were definitely plenty of other, more interesting girls. Girls who did more than study and read books, girls who didn't care about the rules quite so much.

"Why would you like me?" Lily asked. "There are plenty-"

"I know exactly what you're going to say," James said, giving her another small smile. "Sure, maybe some other girl has traveled all over the world before now and has loads of interesting stories to tell me. But she's not you. She's not my Lily."

_My Lily_, she thought to herself, playing it over and over again in her head, twisting and turning it as she tried to make sense of what he was saying. Oh yeah, she'd heard James proclaim his love for her countless times, but he'd never seemed serious about it. Even just a while ago, when he'd told her he cared because he loved her, Lily hadn't taken him seriously. But now it was almost impossible to ignore the fact that he was being as honest as she'd ever heard him before.

"You mean it," she said in wonder.

"Of course I mean it," James said, looking rather confused. "Why would I say it if I didn't mean it?"

Lily didn't answer. James continued, "Out of all the girls I've dated, I've never told any one of them that I love them. Because ever since I met you, I've been in love with you."

Lily was still quiet, and James fell silent as well. Neither of them were sure what else to say. Finally, Lily gathered up the courage to say, "I don't even know how I feel."

"I hope it's good," James said, slightly teasingly. "I want you to like me."

"I don't know how I feel," Lily repeated.

James appeared to be thinking, and then before Lily could even register what was happening, he leaned over and kissed her. It only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed like a lot longer to Lily. When James pulled away, he asked, "Now how do you feel?"

"I think I could get use to that."

**A/N: So... What do you think? Reviews are super-duper appreciated!**


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